HE

    Valencia

    The werewolf’s paws brushed against Killian’s shoulder, barely missing his neck. I would have sighed in relief but the next second I saw red appearing on

    his white shirt.

    He was injured.

    But Killian didn’t even notice it. I stared at the deep gashes on his shoulder that the werewolf had given him, huge chunks of flesh missing through his skin and red pouring down his shirt, soaking it crimson.

    I tried to step forward, to do what, I didn’t know.

    But I didn’t want him to take on that werewolf alone.

    “No!! Stay right there!” Killian screamed when he saw me raise my leg forward to take a step towards him.

    Shit. I was distracting him.

    ”

    But then I had not seen him take on a werewolf with his bare hands.

    His arm snapped up, catching the beast’s swipe midair, ws raking across the wolf’s front legs. He gripped the ankle of one of the front legs and yanked

    it, hard.

    The werewolf had taken a leap to attack him but was cut short as it mmed into the ground. Blood sprayed, alongwith dirt and pebbles but Killian

    didn’t flinch.

    The wolf let out a pained howl but the next second it was up.

    With a savage twist, Killian used the wolf’s momentum against it, mming it onto its back so hard the ground cracked. The sound reverberated through my chest.

    Gasps rose from the onlookers. Quite a lot of soldiers and a few royals had arrived as well. The chaos had woken up everybody from their sleep.

    I scanned the crowd but there was no sign of Martin. I did catch Fabian peeking through the gaps, safely tucked behind the royals but when his gaze met mine, he frantically scrambled back.

    I also spotted Sir Nichs smoking a pipe, watching the fight as if it was some nightly entertainment.

    But no one dared interfere.

    Meanwhile, the werewolf pawed the ground and snapped itsrge maw.

    Killian and the werewolf were circling each other, like they were dancing a game of death.

    “Change back to your human form now! We dont have to do this!”

    Killian said and the werewolf’s ears twitched. For a second, I thought he was listening to Killian. But then that look was gone and it was back to growling murderously again.

    The werewolf scrambled up, snapping its jaws. Killian’s lips peeled bback /bin a snail that wasn’t entirely human. For a heartbeat, his eyes glowed–silver, cold, ancient.

    The glimpse stole my breath.

    The beast lunged again, and Killian met it head–on.

    ti

    His fists drove into its ribs, his knee into its gut. It yelped, enraged, but he was relentless.

    The blood had now soaked most of his shirt and was trickling down his pants, soaking into the ground. Yet, he still didn’t acknowledge it.

    “Killian!” I cried, useless, my voice cracking as fear and adrenaline tangled inside me.

    The wolf’s paw shed again, grazing his side this time. His teeth clenched, but instead of staggering, he drove his elbow into the creature’s throat. The wolf gagged, staggering back.

    The courtyard seemed to hold its breath,

    Killian stood tall, chest heaving, blood streaking down his arm. For a flicker, I thought I saw more than a man before me.

    Why was he not turning into his lycan form?

    Killian was strong no doubt but as a human. He could turn into his lycan and toss this wolf away like a ragdoll in seconds.

    So why wasn’t he?

    M

    Killian snarled again, his broad shoulders shadowed by something monstrous, power radiating like a storm about to break.

    And then he moved again.

    He ran up the stairs whileughing like a maniac. I had frozen for a second, but the moment heshed out with his hand, my body jumped back into action.

    The tip of his w came close to me, too close. I barely missed bing blind by a hair’s breadth as I stumbled back and my body leaned backward to avoid his attack.

    “Stop right there, Vik” Elder Amara shouted in a loud voice, and patient number thirty three stopped for a second.

    He slowly turned back to look at the elder priestess looking at him with a mix of emotions on her face.

    There was confusion, pity and also concern. I didn’t have time to wait to decipher more of her emotions because my pursuer blinked his eyes and the confusion on his face morphed into the earlier bloodlust.

    I started climbing up again even if my legs felt like lead. Elder Amara was wise and senior, but I doubted she could climb up all these floors so fast.

    I was on my own.

    So I kept forcing my body to run even if my muscles groaned and protested against me. Elder Amara shouted something again but her voice was drowned under the cacophony of noises.

    1looked at the small vial of some herb that I was still holding and decided to slow him down a little.

    He was inching closer, but I still waited.

    “Sheesh, what are you doing? Run!” I heard a familiar voice and looked behind to see Sarah staring at the guy with fear.

    Despite the fear trying to squeeze my heart, I managed to smile.

    “You are finally talking to me!”

    But her eyes widened, and she pointed ahead.

    “Watch out”

    I turned my head just in time to see his face inches from mine with his ws outstretched. His ws and his teeth were gleaming wildly and I heard Sarah cry out.

    “Duck!”

    But I lifted my hand high in the air and smashed that bottle hard upon his face. He had not expected an attack from such a close range, and his eyes had been open,

    So, the ss sk smashed on his face, and bits of ss got into his eyes.

    “Argh!!”